I’ve been on the go since I got up at 6 — kids’ lunches, daughter to bus stop, groceries, laundry (5 or 6 loads, I lost track), a pot of beans, cleaning kitchen, copyediting, reviewing feedback, daughter from bus stop, dinner, daughter’s badges on her Brownie sash, drive to Brownies…
And now, I get my reward: an hour to sit here and read or write or poke at social media or just stare into space without anybody demanding some of my time.
What are you grateful for today?
I post a lot about time, productivity, and balance. I’ve even opined before that it’s really more a question of juggling than of balance. Why do I talk about it so much? Because, like most people, I have multiple facets of my life, and I want to have time for everything. (Well, almost everything. For the most part, I don’t care about having time for housework.) That means writing, working, and family. Oh, and crafts, cooking, volunteering, and exercise. And…
You see the problem. Continue reading
The problem with deciding on topics two months in advance without actually writing notes is that I forget what I was going to say. I didn’t even note what links I wanted to use for this post, so I’m winging it a bit more than usual. I hope you’ll bear with me.
So I’ve set up a system. It doesn’t have to be perfect — just having a system probably helps me get to more things than if I’m playing catch-as-catch-can. However, it could probably be better. How do I figure out what’s working and what isn’t as good as it could be? Continue reading
Last week, I put together a system based on blocking off time for specific activities, from when everyone has left the house in the morning up until people arrive home. That’s roughly 7:30 to 5, although my son actually gets home about 3. Then I threw it out the window to devote all of my time to finishing up an overdue project (including time devoted to sleep, as you might have gathered from my post earlier this week). That’s actually pretty easy to deal with — get enough sleep, get up in the morning, and start following the prompts of iCal reminders to tell me what I’m supposed to work on in each time period.
Almost. Continue reading
In case this hasn’t been made patently clear in earlier posts of this series, I am not an expert on time management. It’s something I’m always investigating and learning about because I’m so abysmally bad at it (as anyone who knows what my latest week has looked like knows). So this series is an attempt to synthesize the latest information and put together a system that will work going forward, and to help others do the same.
One of the things I’ve learned recently is that we are, generally speaking, cognitive misers. We can only pay attention to so much at one time. And when we’re trying to keep track of everything and do everything — pay off debt, lose weight, earn more money, be better parents, read our TBR stacks, engage in our hobbies, follow the news, on and on and on — we keep dropping stuff. This gets back to what I mentioned last week about automating tasks. If we can make some of the things we’re trying to do automatic, it doesn’t matter that we don’t have to think about them. Continue reading
Although I’m calling this “Looking at energy,” I’m actually talking about both energy and health here. Whatever you’re doing with your life, it’s easier if you’re well rested and well fed. We all know this. Our cars don’t run on empty; neither do we. Of course, I’m not going to stop there. Continue reading
What needs to be done? How do you decide?
This devolves to personal choice. Some people like the Covey Planner. Others swear by GTD. Some people like to-do lists; some write everything on their calendar. Some (fortunate few?) delegate it all to personal assistants. Some just trust that if it’s important enough, they’ll remember what all they need to get done. Continue reading
When you try to do something, you may run across people who suggest you do “just a little bit each day.” Flylady is a big proponent of this method, saying “You can do anything for 15 minutes.” On the other end of the spectrum, you have research that talks about the 90-minute rhythm to our lives — in sleep and in work. Notice that what these have in common is that they’re actually shorter than expecting to sit down and write, program, play an instrument, or whatever all day long. They give us time to take breaks and time to shift gears.
Tobias Buckell posted last month about his work habits, which gave me some food for thought, and changed the way I approach my day a bit. I didn’t copy everything he does, but there’s a lot of good advice there. Continue reading
Why are you doing what you’re doing? What makes you want to write, read, quilt, clean house, whatever it is that takes your time? Leo Rosten said, “The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can’t help it.” That’s a cynical view that implies there has to be something wrong with you if that’s what you want to do. Continue reading
I poke at time management now and then. Try new systems. Look at sites on-line. Try to increase my productivity. Recently, I’ve realized I’ve gotten lazy — I’m too inclined to sit down and putter instead of looking at what’s on my to-do list and doing it. If realizing that one isn’t being productive were enough to make somebody become productive, it wouldn’t be a multi-million dollar industry. So I’m embarking on the journey again, trying to do more — and this time, I’m blogging about it, with reference to things I’ve read and what I’m planning to try. Feel free to chime in on the comments of these posts with your own ideas and problems! Continue reading
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